Halo 3: Earth's Final Stand
by CT-325
Summary: This is the end... The war is nearly over, and mankind is on the brink of extinction. This will be the war to end all wars, the bloodiest battle in the history of the universe is about to end, and the hero of all heroes is about to finish it all. Finished
1. Metropolis

**Halo 3:**

**Earth's final stand**

**Metropolis**

"Hold steady!" The pilot yelled into the troop carrier at the back of the Pelican. "5 minutes to dirt!"

"About time," grumbled Sergent Major Avery Johnson. One of the marines slapped him on the back and tried to cheer him up. "Look on the bright side sir! At least we'll be able to kill some of those bastards!"

Johnson grinned. "Careful Corporal, I might have to get you court-martialled." The marine cocked his head in confusion.

"What for sir?"

"For slapping a superior." All of the 14 troops laughed at that. Except for the co-pilot. "Additional contacts on radar! Looks like 3 enemy vehicles approaching at high velocities!" Johnson, who was sitting at the back of the Pelican, stood up immediately. "Seal off the pelican interior! I don't want those covenant sons-of-a-bitches getting a straight shot, right up our a-!" The Pelican took a plasma bolt to the right wing and lurched violently. The Master Chief, sitting to the left of Johnson, ran into the Pelican's portable armoury, and came out with two Jackhammer rocket launcher's, or as some of the marines call them, Slapper's. The Master Chief threw one to Johnson, who, under the wait of it, was knocked over. One of the marines stared out of the nearest view port, and saw something that he didn't. "Holy shit!" The human mind can process millions of fragments of data in less than 0.5 of a second. When the marines from Fire Team Charlie saw Private Rostburg, a man well known for sanity in a world with none, dive to the floor screaming, they knew that they were all gonna die. Their suspicion's were confirmed when 0.8 of a second later, when Pelican _Charlie 46_'s engine failed, it lost one wing, and half the ship.

"_This is Charlie 46; we have lost all engines and half the ship."_ The comm operator replied calmly, "Roger that Charlie 46. What is your current location, over." The 'calm voice' that is used by many comm officers is supposed to calm the person on the other end. But at this instant, it wasn't helping. _"Our position is sector 38, by the bridge, in Metropolis, New Mombassa, over."_

The pilot's voice was starting to heighten, so the female comm officer asked him to repeat. _"What do you mean by repeat! There is a friggin **bug** chasing us! I have lost half of my fucking ship! And all the fuck you care about is repeating! I need reinforcements **now!**"_ The comm channel went dead, and she sighed. _Men._

The Master Chief dived as plasma scorched the area where he was standing. He stood up. "Johnson! Corporal!" he shouted above the noise. There was dust everywhere. What was left of the Pelican, if you could even call it that, was falling apart. The Master Chief looked back. Inside his helmet, he could only here the hot quick puffs of breath that were his. Only hear his breathing stop as reality returned. He turned around to the back of the 'Pelican,' and jumped. The beam hit him anyway. A giant green beam, one of which seemed distantly familiar, smashed into him, sending him flying back, _through _the Pelican, and into a long deserted building. He slowly got up, and vision returned to his eyes. His shield alarm was blaring over his helmet speakers. He stared at his vitals. They were flashing red. He stood up and groaned. The very distinguishable sound of an extremely powerful laser charging up sent John running toward the window at top speed. He roared and made a leap of faith to a place that he could not see. The only part he could make out was a bridge that was barely seeable in all the dust. The beam that fired entered the building and vaporizing it. The beam passed centimetres below John's feet, and he could feel the blistering heat even with his armour on. He shouted out as the building behind him exploded and flames licked his back. When his feet hit solid metal, John was about to relax, when the flames continued to peruse him, and he kept running. Over the metallic object that he remembered as a scarab. When he reached the top he looked back and jumped. 500 feet to the water below. Once the flames had engulfed the Scarab, it exploded too. Green flames mixed with the red, and together, they covered John till he hit the water. He sunk, and then kicked his way back up to the surface, to find things very different. The Covenant was everywhere. The Master Chief backed into the water slightly. He looked at the bridge that he saw earlier, and swore. The Bridge was glassed, as was half of Metropolis. Just then, a UNSC Pelican came down and cleared out any covenant that dare oppose it. The marines that stepped off stared at him in awe. "He walked up to them and said, "Never seen a Spartan before marines?"

"Yes sir," one replied. "It's just, who are you?"

"John 117. Master Chief." They all backed away. "What?"

"Sir. You died 28 years ago."


	2. The Future

**The Future**

The Master Chief stared at them. "You're kidding, right?"

"I'm afraid not, sir." He sighed. "Figures. Cortana was always telling me that all my actions were suicidal." He stared back at the marines. "Is Sergent Johnson here?"

One of the marines backed up. "How do you know him sir?"

"I was with him when Charlie 46 went down."

The marine, who John addressed as 'Mulchet,' bit his lip. "You'd better come with us sir." The Master Chief started forwards, when he froze. Across the water, he could see hundreds, maybe _thousands_ of scarab's patrolling the city. "They hit us hard sir. Came outta no where." Watching one, the Master Chief zoomed in on it. He could see marines being lined up on their knees, then being executed by a gold elite with a plasma sword. They all ran onto the Pelican as it lifted off. The Master Chief asked the pilot, "Where are we going?" The Pilot's voice was hard, and had the insignia of an ODST. "We're going to fall- back point Alpha. There's a base there that you can rest at."

"Good." The Master Chief leaned back and sighed. It had been a long day already. The Pelican zoomed off in the general direction of the fall back point. The radio hissed as someone tried to reach them through the comm. "This is Pelican _Zulu 49_; we are en route to fall back point Alpha. Does anyone read me, over?" The radio fizzed back a reply; _"Fire team Zulu, this is Cortana." _The Master Chief straightened at the mentioning of Cortana's name. _"Fall back point Alpha is hot, I repeat hot."_

"Roger Cortana. Zulu 49, out." He turned around and said, "The Covenant have put up anti-air turrets all over this sector. This is as close as I can get you." "Roger that." The Master Chief said, jumping off the Pelican. The marines, who are in fact ODST's, put on their helmets, loaded their Battle Rifles and ran off. A marine was there to greet him. "Good to see you again chief!"

"Again?" The Master Chief questioned him. "Don't you recognize me?" The Master Chief moved closer. "Johnson?" The Sergent grinned. "Come on Chief, this way." The Master Chief followed him across a street, with Warthog's driving round. The Lieutenant got hit as soon as they attacked, as did the Private. They ran up a flight of steps, where he saw a Covenant Anti-air turret. "Holy shit." The Sergent pulled him over to a safe place behind a wall, when the turret fired. They ran. "Get out!" Someone yelled. Inside the building, those that stayed were crushed. The giant plasma ball impacted with the building, melting it. The Master Chief and Johnson dived off a balcony, where they were faced with a problem. Elites, 5 of them, had surrounded them. "Chief," Johnson whispered, and slowly handed the Chief a pistol. "Great, thanks." He said sarcastically. He held it up and said, "Don't move." The Elites laughed and raised their plasma rifles. The Master Chief raised his pistol. Again, they laughed at him. While their heads were tossed back, The Master Chief grabbed Johnson, and charged the nearest Elite. Not expecting the move, all of the Elites were momentarily startled, but came over it and prepared to fire. But none did. The Master Chief was holding the Elite that he tackled in front of him and Johnson. "Cardec!" The Elite shouted. The Master Chief's helmet's translating system played it back in English._ "Shoot!"_

"Ke mandata! Shona sheiks!"

"_My shields can take it if you miss! Give the Prophets confirmation of the Demon's living!"_

The Elites raised their rifles once more. The Master Chief raised his pistol and cocked it. "I'll give you _fucking_ confirmation!" He aimed the pistol at the Elite that he was holding and shot his shield generator. _Bang! _The Elite stared at him as his shields died. The Master Chief levelled his pistol at the Elites head. "Suck shit you motherf-." He pulled the trigger, and the Elites fired. The Elite's head exploded as a bullet entered his brain, and his body melted as plasma impounded it. "Run!" The Master Chief and Johnson ran, firing their weapons. The Elites returned fire. Johnson and the Chief dived behind a wall and reloaded. "Sir!" A group of marines ran toward them. The Master Chief's FOF tags displayed them as Fire team Delta. "Marines!" Johnson barked. "Sustain heavy fire! Then fall back to my mark!" The Master Chief stared up at the Covenant turret, and then had an idea. He keyed his comm and changed frequency's to FLEETCOMM. _"This is squadron Alpha leader, who is this?"_

"Sir, this is Master Chief, Spartan 117. We have a Covenant turret emplacement pinning us down! Over"

"_Roger that Chief, we're on our way, hang tight. Major Eengsly out." _The marines were hit the Elites with everything they had; Battle Rifles, SMG's, Magnum's, auto turret emplacement's, grenades even. But the Elites were tuff to kill. "Marines! Fall back!" Hearing the Chief's order they all turned and ran towards Johnson. In one fluid movement, the Chief grabbed, primed, and dropped a plasma grenade at the Elites feet. Seeing it, they all screamed, and then the grenade exploded, engulfing them, giving them a taste of their own medicine. The ground was covered in what looked like purple paint. The Master Chief heard the roar of Longsword fighter's, and shouted, "Everybody down!" No sooner then he had said it; the Longsword's fired their Archer missiles at the turret. The Turret tried to shoot them down, but to no avail. The missiles struck home, and the turret exploded in a brilliant ball of blue plasma/flame. The Master Chief shielded and shut his eyes, but the light was so bright that it still shone through his eyelids. The marines started cheering. A warthog pulled up in front of the Chief and he jumped on the turret at the back, loaded it with rockets, and said to the driver, "Let's roll and show these Covenant bastards what we're made of."


	3. A Very Bad Day

**A Very Bad Day**

The Master Chief blew the brains out of the Elite piloting the ghost and turned to deal with another. He loaded more rockets into the LRV's turret and took aim at the phantom. _Bang! Bang!_ Two rockets screamed out of the turret and slammed into the phantom's shielded hull. The Phantom bucked, but kept on going as the three plasma turret's on the belly opened fire. "Corporal!" he shouted above the noise of the engine. "Brake! Hard left! Reverse right! GO!" The Master Chief was screaming directions and the marine in the driver's seat was pushing his driving skills to the limit. When the Master Chief stopped shouting to him, they were pulling out of an ally way, and were behind the Phantom. The Master Chief loaded the gun, cocked it, and opened fire on the Phantom's engines. The only reason the engines were unshielded is because if they were, the heat would rebound off the shields and back onto the engines, causing the Phantom to explode. So as the Master Chief opened fire on the engines, the marine, unaware of his plan, began to accelerate once more. When the engines were out of sight, the Master Chief cursed, and then found a new plan; in the field, you had to improvise. His training had taught him that. "Corporal! Maintain this speed!"

"Yes sir!" The Master Chief aimed at the only other unshielded part of the Phantom: The holding bay. He opened fire. Missed. The turrets swivelled around and started to shoot at the warthog. The driver braked, and then accelerated again as purple plasma burned the road in front of them. Heat washed over the Master Chief as he loaded more rockets into the turret. The marine pulled left, right, left, accelerated, pulled left again and braked. Their aim was getting better. The Master Chief activated his scope, and aimed at the blue shimmer that was the exit of the troop bay. "Gotcha." He pulled the trigger and a rocket _ripped_ through the door and blew up inside. He heard screams of Elites, grunts, jackals and brutes alike, but he fired again. And again. And again. He was down to his last rocket when the shields failed. He took aim at the bottom-front of the Phantom. "Fire!" The marine yelled.

"Gawk! Kietngda!" The Pilot's to the Phantom were yelling at each other _"What! The shield is down!" _They were about to raise the shields again, when the Phantom exploded.

The Phantom's debris rained down everywhere. The blue explosion had faded, and the remaining Covenant were mowed down by the battle rifle of the marine in the side seat. "Woo, hoo!" the driver was yelling. The Master Chief looked ahead of the driver. "Look out!" He shouted. The driver looked ahead. Tried to tur-. Too late. The rubble from the Phantom was extremely hot, as the driver found out, when a piece as sharp as an energy sword entered his brain. When his head simply exploded, washing the side seat marine with blood, he looked ahead screamed. The warthog was on a direct collision-course with a wraith. The Master Chief saw it, brought the gun about, and fired. The warthog was travelling so fast, it overtook the rocket and went up the wraith like a ramp. The marine was beyond saving so the Master Chief got ready to jump. When he did, he was as lucky as hell. The warthog was right on top of the Wraith's firing hole when it fired; _at the exact same time as the rocket struck!_ The warthog went flying, hitting the Master Chief and bringing him with it. He was in the side seat, lying on top of what was left of the two marines. Most of the windshield was covered in cracks. He looked back at the wraith, saw the Elite that jumped out, and then saw the super-nova explosion that it created. Bits of wraith went flying out in all different directions. The Master Chief was pressed against the warthog seat by gravity as it spun around millions of times over. From what he could see, every time he saw the ground, he was even higher than before. _That's it_ he thought. _Time to get out of here._ He struggled to get up, so he decided to roll, slowly over to the side of the warthog, clipped his magnum to his belt, and rolled off. As he was falling, he stared up at the warthog. A piece of boiling shrapnel smashed into the warthog's fuel tank, igniting it. **_BOOM!_** Shards of glass and metal exploded around him. His shields went down and he started to feel a lot of pain. "Shit!" he shouted as shards of glass began to rain down on him. He screamed as one entered his visor and played havoc with his armour's system. He fell, gaining speed with each passing metre. When he finally cleared the clouds, he swore again and braced himself for impact upon the Pelican's hull.

Inside the cockpit, the pilot heard a dull _thump _then a groan. "What the fuck was that?" he said aloud. Johnson, in the co-pilot's seat, next to the pilot, activated the Pelican's camera system. _Nothing. _He switched cameras. _Nothing. _Switch. _Nothing. _He was about to switch again when something on the edge of the windshield moved. It was black, then a green bit entered Johnson's field of vision. "Covenant Son of a bitch!" He shouted. "Pilot! Brake!" The pilot pulled back on one of the control sticks, and the green thing went flying off. In that instant, they realised who that was, what they'd done, and stared at each other. "Oops."

The Master Chief let go of the auto turret at the front of the Pelican once it had landed, collapsed onto Johnson, who collapsed onto the pilot, who collapsed under the weight of both of them. Then the Master Chief said, "I'm having a really bad day."


	4. The Journey Begins

**The Journey Begins**

"Move!" The ODST trooper shouted. All of the ODST's in the Pelican piled out, shooting at numerous grunts as they did. The Pelican's Pilot radioed the ODST Sergent and said, "There's too much fire; pulling back to a safe distance, over."

"Roger that." The Pelican's engines whined as it slowly started to rise, and then it flew off, gaining speed as it went. Sergent Hopkins had been with the UNSC for 15 years. He'd seen lots of blood, guts, plasma, but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw here. He said into his radio, "What the fuck is _that_?" Before him was the most _gigantic_ thing he had ever seen in his life. "Sir!" One of his corporal's ran up to him. "Sir, the area is secure,"

"Any casualties?"

"None sir. But one of those Covenant Elites winged McCabe." _Damn._ The Sergent patted the Corporal on the shoulder. "Call for reinforcements, and then," he gestured up at the towering structure. "We're going in there."

The Master Chief walked over to Johnson. "Felling better Chief?" he asked. "Yes, actually, I am." Johnson smiled, "Sorry for the little workout." They both laughed. What's the deal?" the Master Chief asked.

"Nothing big. A group of marines stumbled upon something that they want to check out." The Master Chief nodded.

"They call for backup?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to send anyone in?"

Johnson grinned.

"Just a few people that I know. Also," he pulled out something that looked familiar. "I thought that you might like this." The Master Chief took it and popped it into his helmet. Cortana's voice filled his speakers. "It's good to be home."

"Cortana!" Johnson smiled. "Now that you two have gotten acquainted, _again, _you might like to know that you two are gonna be going out on your own. The marines report that all sides of the temple have a sheer drop. The amount of ground until the drop from the temple is about 500 metres."

"How far away is the other side?" Cortana asked. Johnson grimaced. "About 200 metres."

"All right," the Master Chief said. "Let's get to it then."

The Ferret raced along the rough, sandy terrain with ease. The Ferret is a new UNSC motorbike that has a twin barrel shotgun on the front that has a very long firing range. It also has a detachable side compartment for a passenger. The Master Chief made the designs himself, about 28 years ago. No one was in the side seat, but the Master Chief stored a portable Rocket Launcher and his personal Sniper Rifle. In his belt he kept a few fragmentation grenades and his ever faithful Magnum. The Ferret's engines powered it across the terrain, leaving an enormous amount of dust and dirt in his wake. The Ferret climbed up a slope to reveal a human base in the middle of a canyon. The Master Chief stopped, activated his visor's scope, and zoomed in on the base. Covenant Elites were patrolling the roof, and there were a few grunts in ghosts, patrolling the perimeter of the former marine base. The base had several levels; the bottom, he saw, had a docked banshee, the second level was an 'insider'; it had two entries and led into the middle base. The third level was the roof of the small complex. There was something very strange about something on the top, though. It had a strange green glow to it. The Master Chief tossed the thought aside and drew his Sniper. He looked through the scope and saw two Elites walk out onto the roof. He quickly practiced moving from one target to another. Then, when he think he had it mastered, he aimed at 1Elite and relaxed. He remembered Mendez' exact words; _Sniping is like a walk in the park. Stealth is the key… _ The Master Chief fired two shot's, and the two Elite's heads exploded in a fountain of purple blood… _You must focus;_

_Nothing is there except you and your opponent… _3 more grunts and a jackal fell to his deadly storm of sniper fire. He reloaded and touched his combat knife that was in his thigh pouch. _If there is no one to watch your back, watch it yourself…_ The Master Chief stood up, unsheathed his knife, and in one fluid movement, threw it into the head of the jackal behind him, and raised his sniper at the Elite. _Never use your Rifle at close range… _He quickly changed plans and thrust the nozzle of the Sniper into the Elite's chest and pulled the trigger. The Elite exploded as the Master Chief swung around and caught a Jackal in the head so hard it knocked it off. _Never slow down; if you do, you'll die… _The Master Chief raised his sniper rifle once more and fired one shot at the ghost that was shooting at him. _Bang! _The bullet penetrated the Ghost's outer hull and hit the fuel tank. As the explosion and the last shot died away, he remembered Mendez' last words; _don't let go of the felling, and the skill won't let go of you…_


	5. Better Off Alone

**Better Off Alone…**

The Master Chief drove down the slope at extreme velocities. When the Ferret reached the bottom, the Master Chief jumped off and wheeled it into the "garage," at the bottom. The Banshee there had seen a lot of combat and was battered beyond recognition. The Master Chief grabbed his sniper rifle and was sucked up the gravity lift to the side of it. When up there, he sat down at a make-shift desk that the marines, who had ruled the outpost before the covenant, had put there. He sat for hours, configuring something on his boots. When he was satisfied, he went outside to inspect his surroundings. A warthog to the left of the front entrance was still smoking, the blood of the marines who tried to get away still fresh on the seats. He walked up to the top, crouched and activated his comm. "This is Spartan 117, does anybody read me, over?" He heard some static, then nothing. "What the hell-?" He heard a noise that he hadn't heard before, and a second later, was blasted off of his feet. He fell down through a perfectly shaped circle in the floor, and landed on the glass floor overlooking the hangar. He stood up slowly, wincing as he did so. Then Cortana's voice filled his head. _"Chief we lost contact with home base." _The Master Chief stopped, wondering what the hell Cortana had been drinking lately, and said, "Where the fuck have you been the past 6 hours?" A chunk of the roof was blown off, and it landed at the Master Chief's feet. He ran outside and was assaulted by plasma fire, he ducked behind a rock and assessed the situation; 5 Jackal's, all lined up, shields in front, 2 Elites armed with Carbines, 10 grunts with needlers and plasma pistols, and 2 Hunter's. _Great. _Cortana spoke again as the rock was being blasted to pieces. _"Chief, you're under heavy fire!"_

"Yeah, no shit!" He dived away behind another rock as that one exploded. Cortana asked him a simple, but challenging question; _"I suppose you have a plan?"_

"Yes."

"_Care to tell me?"_

He unsheathed his combat knife.

"I'm going to kill every last one of them."

"_I object. I'm here as well you know."_

"Well sucks to be you." He ran out from behind the rock and the Elites formed what seemed like a smile on there faces. The Master Chief started with the one on the left. "Smile at this you ugly son of a bitch!" The knife whistled through the air and lodged itself in the back of the Elites throat. While the Elite was falling to the ground, the still running Master Chief continued toward the second Elite. Afraid of what happened to his brother, the second Elite backed up and drew his plasma rifle. The Master Chief ran past the dead Elite, who was now 1 metre away from the second, and pulled his knife out with a sickening _squelch _and swung at the second Elite with the handle of his knife, knocking him to the ground. He turned and ran up the ramp, persued by the Elite and the rest. When the Covenant got to the top, the Elite stepped forward, curious. The Master Chief was holding his hands behind his back and, as expected, the Covenant stopped when they reached the top. The Elite spoke in English, "Why do you run, human?" The Master Chief replied, "I wasn't running."

Then realisation hit the Elite, and he tried to get away, but the ramp was blocked.

"I was getting my gun." His hands came out from behind his back, in his right, his sniper. In his left, his knife. Before anything had time to react, the Master Chief fired. Time seemed to slow down for the Elite. He turned, being at the front, he was being pushed forward. _Bang! _"Nooo!" He screamed. The bullet went through his shields, through his head, through his brain and out the other side. The Elite dropped to the ground as the bullet kept on going. It punctured the head of 4 Jackal's, and the chest of the last Jackal, who was kneeling. The last Jackal's chest exploded, showering everyone with blood. All of them collapsed to the ground, and the Master Chief had his gun aimed at the ramp. The 10 grunts that were there screamed as they were mowed down by marines that were in the Pelican that was making a supply drop to the Chief. "Wahoo!" one yelled as they all jumped off. Canisters were brought into the base, containing ammo, and micro-transmitters were placed on the ground 50m out from the base, so that they had a motion tracker with a range of 50m out in all directions. The Chief walked up to the pilot and asked, "How did you know where I was?" The pilot shrugged. "We didn't. We were flying some supplies over to a group of marines out at the structure, when we heard a blood-curdling scream, and then a Sniper shot." The Master Chief nodded and walked away. The story fitted, but it seemed a bit far-fetched. He walked off the roof and watched the pilot land nearby, and reloaded his sniper. The Pelican hovered above the ground, and the pilot jumped out of the back, ran over to the garage, and came out dragging the Chief's Ferret over to the Pelican so he could attach it to the bottom. The Master Chief grabbed some ammo for his Sniper rifle, pocketed it, and then it hit him; the nagging thought at the back of his mind. _Where did the Hunter's go?_ He turned around and started running toward the base at full speed. Then he heard 3, inhuman, yet at the same time, human screams. Then an explosion. "Damn it!" he shouted. "Shit!" Something slammed into his back and he was thrown off his feet. He saw the wall rushing up to meet him. _Bang! _When he hit the wall, his finger being on the trigger, his sniper rifle had fired. The marine standing nearby fell to the dirt, dead. The Master Chief stood up. _"Chief!" _Cortana shouted. _"Left!" _The Master Chief threw his sniper to the ground, drew his knife, and dived to his left. The wall behind where he was standing was completely vaporized. He rolled to his feet and heard more screams. The Hunter in front of him roared and charged at him. The Chief side stepped the attack and threw his knife. The Hunter turned and hit the knife up with the shield attached to its arm. The knife sailed high above their heads. The Master Chief had an idea, a crazy one, but an idea. He rolled backwards, got to his feet, and ran toward the Hunter. The Hunter, not expecting this, froze. "That's right freeze…" the Master Chief said, trailing off. When he was five metres from the Hunter, he jumped and kicked his feet together. The miniature jets attached to the bottom of his feet flamed to life, propelling him up. The Hunter was dumbstruck. When the Chief's feet were level with the Hunters head, he kicked his feet together again, and the jets stopped. He fell in slow motion, his arms aimed upwards. His feet brushed the Hunter's head, he was falling. But he had what he wanted. The knife fell into his right hand, and then he landed on the Hunter's back. The Hunter roared and shook himself hard, trying to get the Master Chief off of his back. The Master Chief raised the knife and finished his line. "… you mother_fucker!_"

He jammed the knife into the Hunter's back, into a soft, fleshy, orange patch on the Hunter's back. The Master Chief's specially designed knife, made of Titanium-A, went through the fleshy patch with ease. Then it _smashed _into the Hunter's spine, shattering it. The Hunter stopped, went deathly still, and then collapsed into the dirt. The Master Chief ran towards the Pelican. _"Nice move." _Cortana commented. The Master Chief said nothing, just kept running toward the Pelican. When he got there, he ran inside, where the Pilot was doing pre-flight checks. "Get this thing in the air!" The Master Chief shouted to him. He turned around, and was about to sheath his knife, when he heard the sound of a gun being cocked. The Pilot said, "Freeze you son of a bitch." The Chief slowly turned around. The Pilot was holding a gun to him. The gun, in question, was one the Master Chief had never seen before. "What the hell are you doing?" he shouted to the Pilot. "You've seen too much." The Pilot said.

"What the fuck do you mean?"

"Why John, haven't you realised yet? I'm ICG. The Intelligence Convergence Group. As I said, you've seen too much, too much of what you're not supposed to see. Now it's time to die." The Master Chief understood. The ICG was a group that eliminated people who had seen what they weren't supposed to. He slowly raised his knife, and the Pilot laughed. And fired. The Master Chief's highly enhanced eyes saw the bullet coming and raised his knife. He only had one shot. He swung the knife and hit the bullet _back _to the Pilot. The Pilot only had time to say; "Shit." Before his brains littered the seats around him. The Master Chief ran back out, forgetting something. When he came back in, he was holding his Sniper Rifle; fully loaded and ready to fire. He ran into the cockpit, thankful that the pilot had hooked his Ferret to the back of the Pelican, in order to stop his escape, and charged up the Pelican's engines. When they were fully charged, the Master Chief lifted off, flying away from the base that was being bombarded by at least a dozen phantoms and banshees.


	6. Just when it cant get any worse

**Just When You Think It Can't Get Any Worse…**

The Pelican shuddered as it took another round in the left wing. The Master Chief looked back out of the Pilots door and saw the Pelican behind him get extremely close to him, then disappear from his sight. _What the hell? _He checked his radar, looking for any signs of life. Nothing. Then he lurched as the entire ship shook. _Shit! They're trying to board me! _He was right, as the thought went through his mind, SEAL troopers were piling into the Pelican's back cargo door. He switched the Pelican to auto-pilot, drew his Magnum, and turned around. _Whack! _A hand slammed into the Chief's armour, damaging his shields by a fraction. He raised his Magnum and fired. The SEAL trooper in front of him dropped to the floor, dodging the bullet. He stood up, and the last thing he saw was a fist closing in on his face. The trooper sailed out of the troop bay and slammed into the snowy cliff below them. The Chief turned, to see the Pelican fast approaching another cliff. Again, he was in a closed off space, with few exits. Choices: Jump. No, been hurt too many times already. Stay and die. No, been there, done that. Kill these bastards and steal their Pelican. Maybe. No. I want to keep my Ferret. _Fuck this. _He set the Pelican to do a loop, circle back round, and hit the cliff. He turned around and shot the man in front of him. The man's head exploded, and his body slumped to the ground. The Chief ran to the back of the Pelican, and slowly started to lower himself down towards the Ferret.

"_-the hell is this guy doing?"_

"_-just climbed out the back-"_

"_-don't have a visual-"_

"_-Aurie is down-"_

The Captain heard the chatter through his comm. He frowned as he saw the chief attach his Sniper rifle to the side of his Ferret, then detach the side-car. The Side-car fell sown and smashed into a million pieces. He frowned again as the Pelican, on auto-pilot, began to rise above the cliff. _What the hell?_

The Master Chief got ready. His plan was crazy, but it just might work. He mounted his Ferret and hit the button to detach the Ferret from the grip of the Pelican.

"_Holy shit!"_

"_-just detached his motorbike-"  
"-get the snipers in here!"_

The Captain was unprepared for the loop that the Pelican's pulled.

"ARRGGH!" He heard the screams of his men as they fell out of the back of both the Pelican's. The Captain regained himself and stared forward.

_Shit._

The sniper bullet the Chief fired hit the pilot square in the forehead, showering the Captain next to him with blood. Then he put the bike into gear, and drove off as fast as he could.

"Get us off of here!" The Captain screamed to the pilot. The pilot saw the cliff approaching them and was about to hit the "unlatch" button when his head simply blew up. The Captain squeezed his eyes shut as the blood from the pilot covered his armour, from head-to-toe. He reacted immediately. His hand lashed out and hit the button. "Yes!" he cried in triumph when he felt the jolt of his Pelican coming away from the Chief's. He pulled the control stick toward him as hard as he could, but a second later, the Pelicans smashed into the cliff and the Captain was engulfed in flames.

The Master Chief heard the sound of the explosion, but kept on going. He looked to his left and swore. A banshee patrol had spotted him and was moving toward him. He brought the Ferret 'round in a sharp left, the bike handling the snowy terrain with ease. Plasma peppered the area all around him, and he came to a sudden halt. In front of him was a drop leading into the abyss. He looked across. A structure dominated the cliff on the other side. He jumped off the bike, forgetting about the banshee, grabbed his sniper rifle, and was blown to shit.

The Sergent called over his radio, raising his Assault rifle at a shadow that he thought was moving. "Help," he whispered silently. His radio crackled as he dived round a corner, gun raised. _"Sir this is McCabe, are you alright?"_

_Is that a question? _Thought the marine as he blasted something to smithereens. "Negative," he replied, scared. "Negative. My team is down and there are _people _trying to kill me! Fucking people! And there's something else here. Something that is much worse than the covenant…"

"Sir." McCabe walked up to the CO. "We've lost contact."

"What? Ho-"

"We don't know sir. He was really shaken up though."

"Ah well. We'll get him back."

"Sir?"

"What is it McCabe?"

"He said something about something worse than the covenant. Also he said something about being shot at by people. Is it true?" The CO shrugged. "Don't know. But we'll find out."

"How?" McCabe asked, concerned.

"There's a team of SAS and navy SEAL's waiting out outside the barrier." McCabe froze, wondering why the UNSC would send both the SAS _and _the SEAL's in. Then it hit him.

"Oh shit."


	7. The Ark

**The Ark**

The Master Chief stood up and examined the area. His shield alarm was blaring, his vitals displayed red, and his Ferret was gone, down the cliff. It was then that he realised where he was; the other side of the drop. He looked behind him, and there it was, the cliff was centimetres away from his feet. He turned around and immediately dropped to the ground, avoiding a missile from a _tank_. _Holy shit! _He stood up, looking for some cover. He found some, a large structure that was no more than 20 metres away. He ran as his shield started to go down again as the tank's machine gun rendered the area with bullet holes. He reached the entrance to the structure, but stopped. He saw something that he wanted. He rolled to the right, dodging another missile in the process, and wrenched his sniper from its upright position in the ground. He immediately turned and ran for the entrance once more, the tank trying to get a good shot. The Chief dived inside as the tank fired. The entrance collapsed around his ears, and he dived into the nearest hallway. When the sound died down, and the rocks stopped falling, he switched on his flashlight and was met with a horrific scene.

McCabe loaded his Assault rifle and faced fire teams Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo. "Alright!" he shouted, "Listen up! The Sarge is in there on his own, and he reported strange things. Now we may not be heroes, but we're all that he's got! Alpha, take a few Pelican's and see if you can get some through that hole at the top. If not, then drop some supplies through and come through the south entrance."

"Yes sir!"

"Bravo! You're with me, we're gonna knock on the front door nice and politely." A few of the Bravo members grinned at that.

"Charlie, there is an entrance south-south west from here. Secure that area, then we'll meet you in the middle of the structure." He turned to Delta. "Delta, there is an entrance north from here that has very recently been blocked up. So you go in with Echo, you two are going to the entrance that is located near it." They all saluted, "Yes, sir!"

"Let's move out."

The Master Chief stared at what was left of a particular fire-team. There was just blood, parts of bodies, and guns everywhere. He heard whimpering, and looked to his right, raising his magnum at the shape that he saw there. "Don't shoot! Please! Shit man, they're everywhere." The Master Chief lowered his Magnum and stared the marine in the eye.

"What's everywhere?" he demanded. But the marine was too shocked to answer. "Shit, they killed my squad, came when we turned on our lights." The Chief froze. He went over what the marine had just said. _They came when we turned on our lights… _

"Shit!" He turned around; Magnum raised, and fired several rounds into the creature that was attempting to assassinate him. The 'thing,' if you want to call it that, fell to the ground, bits of flesh dripping from it. He immediately switched off his light and heard the sound of squelching and dripping die away. "Told you so." Said the marine in a matter-of-fact tone. The Master Chief looked in his general direction and said, "Shut up."

McCabe's Assault rifle went dry, so he tossed it down and picked up a shotgun. _Shit. _His team had just experienced a few losses from multiple unknown enemies. One of the Privates, Hawkins, had been separated from them. _Coward, _thought McCabe. It had only been a few Grunts. Or that's what he thought…

Hawkins ran down the hall, pumping his shotgun as he went, the sound of squelching following him. Due to his 'cockiness,' he had been separated from the rest of Alpha team. _It's as if **they're** waiting for something, _he thought as he reached the end of the hall which housed a dark spot. He stopped and fumbled with his flashlight. _Come on, come on! _He cried out in triumph as he found the switch for the flashlight. And turned it on…

"Turn off your flashlights!" shouted McCabe over the comm, franticly fumbling with his light. He managed to turn it off, but one marine was too slow, and McCabe saw him get sucked into complete darkness. He heard a bloodcurdling scream, then silence, if you don't count the squelching and the gunfire. He looked away, and ran off into total darkness.

Hawkins raised his shotgun in one hand, with his flashlight in the other; something was there.

McCabe heard the sound of a shotgun being pumped and he shouted,

"It's me!"

"McCabe!" Hawkins shouted back.

McCabe ran through the dark hallways with his infra-red vision goggles pulled down over his eyes. He saw a red shape, before Hawkins' overpowered flashlight fucked up the mechanism, turning it off.

"Shit." Through the light of Hawkins' flashlight, McCabe saw the outline behind Hawkins. "Hawkins," he said.

"Turn off the light."

"But it's the only way I can see!"

"I know but-"

"You want me to die don't you?" Hawkins cut in.

McCabe had had enough.

"There's something behind you!" he screamed, pointing over Hawkins' shoulder.

"I don-" the words were making there way out of his mouth when the tentacle that was circling round his neck became taught, and violently ripped him into the shadows.

"No!"

McCabe ran over to where Hawkins was standing and snatched up the flashlight he dropped. He heard a struggle somewhere in front of him. He raised the flashlight, to be met with a horrible sight. Hawkins was being strangled by the most hideous thing that you would ever see. The _thing _had no face, just a lump below the spot where the neck would be, the legs were nothing more than stumps, and the arms were very much the same, but with long tentacles for fingers. Yellow/green bits of flesh hung loosely from the walking horror. One tentacle had itself wrapped around Hawkins' throat.

"Holy shit. Hawkins!"

The _thing_ flinched at the sudden burst of energy. Its senses went wild and the tentacle's grip loosened.

"Come on!"

McCabe pulled Hawkins to his foot, who was still clutching his throat, gasping for air. McCabe switched off the flashlight and together they ran down the dark hall.

The Master Chief raised his Assault rifle at something that moved. When he had asked the marine earlier, he said that they were out of Battle rifles, and Assault rifles were all that they had. He had dealt with the flood before, blasting them to pieces, blowing them up with grenades, doing all sorts of things to them. The marine was resting on a make-shift bed that the Master Chief made out of rubble and stuff that he found in the complete darkness. The marine groaned, and the Chief turned toward where he thought the marine was. "What is it?" he asked.

"I-its getting worse!"

The Chief grimaced inside his helmet. The new form of flood that had attached itself to the marines arm carried some type of fast spreading virus. The virus form, as the Master Chief called it, looked like a cockroach, with tiny tentacles coming out of the front. They also heard another marine over the comm. He said;

"_Fuck. I'm on my own, my squad is dead. They're all gone. Can anyone read me? Shit. Something grabbed onto me. It killed the rest, and wrapped its tentacle round my throat. I managed to kill it, don't ask me how, and got away. But I feel really weird, as if something suddenly I got injected with some type of virus. I don't know what it is, but it's getting worse. Oh fuck! Something's here! Shit! AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!"_

That was 20 minutes ago. The Chief turned, hearing something on his left. "Move! Move! Move!" The order was faint, but he heard it nonetheless.

"Shit."

The ICG, were in.

Hawkins came to, blurred images wavering as he quickly slipped in and out of consciousness. He was in some type of tent, with _a lot _of electrical equipment like radar, ally positions, etc.

"My God. Oh my God," He franticly looked around, the images still blurred.

"Jesus. _Shit_."

He saw the outline of a woman approaching. "Its okay." She soothed with a loveable voice.

"Its okay." She repeated. But still, Hawkins wouldn't stay still. "Where am I?" he demanded.

The woman started to cry as another man entered the room, Magnum in hand.

"What happened to me?"

"It's too late." The woman sobbed.

Hawkins heard the sound of shaky hands loading a gun. McCabe put a bullet into the first chamber and loaded a clip.

'Fuck." He said, raising the pistol.

"I'm sorry."

_Bang._


	8. The End

**The End**

The Master Chief turned his head at the sound of groaning. The marine had woken. _Finally._ He walked over to where the groan came from and asked in complete darkness,

"Are you alright?"

The marine groaned again. The Master Chief froze.

_Was that really a groan? Sounded more like a moan… _His suspicions were confirmed he hear a dull _thump_. He switched on his night vision and quickly jumped back.

"Holy shit!"

The flood combat forms were busy gathering bodies, when one snapped its head up. The others raised theirs too. They had just sensed a disturbance in the sound waves. Someone had just shouted. Also, one of the _very _recently formed improved combat forms was calling for help. They all started running in the direction of the call. It was in danger, and they were very hungry.

McCabe paced angrily around the tent, and then turned to the new CO. "Why'd I have to kill him?"

The CO, whose name was Sergent Brian Daniels, turned to face McCabe and said to him,

"Judging by what we know about these _flood _things, I'd say that we'd all be dead if we let Hawkins live. Besides, he was a screw up. That's what you always say. A _fucking _screw up."

"Well I don't say it now." McCabe retorted.

"You always say that if someone drags down the team, shoot them-"

"No…I…_Don't_."

Daniels grinned.

"As I was saying: shoot them; _right in the head_."

That did it.

McCabe balled up his fist as his CO laughed and laughed at the 'joke' that he made. McCabe couldn't contain it any longer. "Laugh at this you traitorous son of a bitch!"

McCabe's fist swung fast, striking Daniels in the nose, breaking it instantly. Blood welled out of the wound. Daniels staggered back and tripped over the chair that was behind him. "Arrrhhgggg!" McCabe ran around the desk fast, spotting Daniels' name tag that was pinned to his shirt as he went: _Sergent Daniels. ICG. _McCabe grabbed Daniel's pistol, ran back round and aimed the gun at Daniels head. "I could kill you right now you bastard, but I'll spare you, long enough to tell me who the ICG is." Daniels lashed out with his foot, but rage had given McCabe newfound strength. He jumped out of the way and pulled the trigger.

_Bang!_

The bullet, being off mark, travelled through Daniels leg, cutting his Achillis tendon. Daniels screamed in pain as his tendon fell down through his leg and hit the bottom. He also screamed, in fright and pain, as the desk that McCabe pushed over, landed on his leg. "What is it!" McCabe screamed at him, the gun once again aimed at Daniels head. Daniel bared his bloody teeth at McCabe, and spat blood at his feet. "I won't tell you." McCabe loaded the gun. "But I'll only tell you this: We're gonna kill you, and everyone that steps inside this _hellhole_." He laughed the most evil laugh that McCabe had ever heard, and that was saying something, seeing as he had lived with his brother most of his life. He was about to walk out and chuck away the pistol, when he heard Daniels say the last sentence that would ever come from his mouth. "We planted men in all of your units. And we're the ones that separated Hawkins, telling him to run down that hall." He laughed again, so much so, that he didn't notice McCabe stop, turn around, and raise the pistol. This time, Daniels would die.

This time, he wouldn't miss.

The Master Chief shot at the former marine with his newly acquired Assault rifle. The new form of flood was exactly the same as every other combat form, except for a few things.

One: These ones were faster.

Two: These ones were stronger.

And three: They were _tough_.

The Chief had reloaded two times, and the thing wasn't going down. He shot it in the head, once again with a five round burst, and a long stream of yellow liquid spurted out. It fell to the floor, the yellow stuff still dripping, and the Master Chief shot at it until he had to reload again. With the black and white images of his night-vision, he ran through the hall, not wanting to stay there. He ran and ran until he found a control room. Fortunately, there was a control panel for the door, and he shut the door, just as he heard a _wham! _emit from the other side. The room was circular, about ten metres in diameter, it had a hole in the roof at the centre, which he thought led to the apex of the entire complex. He walked to the middle, seeing a control board. He looked at it, confused, but then immediately started tapping buttons. He had seen something like this somewhere before, a long time ago. A hologram appeared in front of him. It showed all seven of the Halo's. Then it showed Earth, _in the centre of them all._ He hit a button called "**commands**" and hit it. A number of options appeared in front of him. He looked at the board, which was in forerunner language, and hit the "**select**," button. The one that he selected was labelled **Self Destruct.** He hit a button on the board which he identified as "**explain.**" A number of sentences came up. But one caught his eye. He hit the button to go into it, and froze. It wasn't the bashing at the door that made him uncomfortable, it was the sentences written in the Forerunner language:

"**_When one activates the Halo's, one might think that one is safe inside the Holy Ark, but one is not. This is a trick that my brothers designed. _We _put the filth in this holy and sacred place; to make sure that the one that activates or destroys the Halo's is pure and strong. We chose this planet because of its alignment with the holy rings. Another twist that my brothers and I created was to make sure that _nothing _survived. We made sure that when the Halo's were destroyed, the planet that the sacred Ark is on will eliminate all life. It will create an explosion with such force, that no power within the universe can contain it. The explosions will eliminate all life, spreading out to make sure that the entire galaxy will be forced to die, to make sure that the filth will not live. It has happened once before. On _this _planet. Creatures ruled the planet. So did the flood. The creatures all died out in one literally super-nova explosion. That was the Ark. We have also made sure that no one can escape; the rings will also create the same high-powered explosion. _**

_**This is the end of my report."**_

The Chief stood there, taking it all in. Then he said one, simple, but well used word:

"Shit."

General Mark Lousivere walked inside the giant complex. "Any casualties?" he asked the man beside him in a French accent.

"7, sir."

Lousivere nodded and was relieved for the shade that the strange building offered.

"Why is it so dark in here?"

He pulled out his personal flashlight, walked deeper into the complex, and turned it on. So did the rest of the people that he was with. None of them were armed, and none of them expected what they saw. Well, none of them really saw it anyway. Three combat forms jumped at them. Within seconds, the screaming stopped, and blood welled around the corner and out into the daylight.

"What the hell?" a marine walked up to the door. There was blood leaking out. He turned around, and his neck was immediately broken by the sheer _force _of the tentacle that hit him. His lifeless body dropped to the ground, and the 3 combat forms piled out of the entrance, followed by more and more. They were all thrilled at being in daylight again. They were hungry, and when they were hungry, they ate. They ran off into the ICG camp, followed by countless screams as countless ICG members fell to their hunger. The flood forms were thrilled; thrilled at the fact that they were able to 'see' again.

The Master Chief looked at the console. He saw something flashing red. He also noticed some beeping sounds emitting from the console. He stared at the words and noticed that they said something like: "SELF DESTRUCT MECHANISM ACTIVATED."

Something beeped again. He stared at the _other _flashing words. Or, as he found out then, numbers. He stared at them, but couldn't figure out what it was, as the numbers were changing every second. _Every second… _Then he realised. Someone had been in here before him. Someone had made the biggest mistake in history. He ran out of the room after his brain had processed the information, shooting at anything that got in his way, desperate to get out.

The numbers read:

5:00.

Or in English; _5:00._

The countdown had reached boiling point, as had the fight that would decide the fate of mankind.

McCabe entered the main tent of the ICG tent.

"My god."

There was blood everywhere; up the walls, all over the tables chairs computers, and even the roof. There wasn't an inch of space that wasn't covered in blood from those bastards that worked for the ICG. He walked out and pulled out his radio.

"Sergent Johnson, this is Sergent McCabe. We need immediate evac _now_. I don't care if you've got problems with the covenant, get me, and my men _out of here_."

Johnson spoke into the radio of the Pelican. "Roger that, McCabe. What is your position, over?"

The radio crackled back. Johnson nodded. "Alright, we can manage that. Johnson, out."

He switched frequencies and spoke.

"Chief, this is Sergent Johnson; we're getting you out of there."

The Master Chief ran, firing left and right, the images of the flood, on his night vision, falling all around him. He ran around a corner, and skidded to a halt. He was in some type of grand cavern. And there were lots of white shapes. He didn't stoop to find out what they were; he raised his Assault Rifle, aware of the fact that they didn't know that he was there. Maybe he could surprise them and take out a few extra. He was about to pull the trigger, when one to his left, one that he didn't see, whipped him with a long tentacle. The Chief grunted as he went flying across the huge room. He thudded into the wall, creating a series of cracks. He fell to the floor, his shield alarm blaring. He stood up, all of the flood forms coming toward him at a snail's pace. He decided to save his ammo. He ran, pulling out two plasma grenades as he went. The Master Chief knew that they were attracted to sound and light; he also knew that his feet were clanging against the metal. He jumped up and activated his feet's jet packs by kicking his feet together. The soundless jets on the bottom of his feet coming to life, bringing him up above the heads of the flood. He activated the two plasma grenades, and chucked them to the floor.

The flood form at the front of the pack moved slowly toward the area where the sound was coming from. Then suddenly, the sound stopped. The flood form stood still, waiting for it to return. Then, _light_. It ran toward the source of the two blue lights. It was right on top of them. It was about to start knowing and bashing one of them, when they exploded.

The Chief heard the roars of the flood from behind the wall as the plasma grenades exploded. Then the remaining fragmentation grenade that the Chief dropped in there blew up, sending fragments of metal flying in all different directions, cutting all of them to shreds. He stood up again, and ran out of the hallway that he was in, and burst out into the daylight, to quickly roll back in, the sand and dirt around him being kicked up by various different plasma rifles.

McCabe stared at the incoming Pelican with joy. It roared over the gap and touched down about 50 metres away.

0: 39

0:39 seconds left.

The Master Chief had caught a glimpse of the tank that had been parked about 30 metres from the doorway. He loaded the marine's shotgun; it had Hawkins written on it, and ran out into the open, gun blazing. Immediately the ground started to melt beneath his feet as plasma scorched the area around him. One Elite fell to a spray of the shotgun in a shower of purple blood. He turned to a close up Elite, while still running to the tank, and fired again. The Elites' head exploded, purple and blue blood spraying everywhere.

"Get this baby into the air!" Johnson yelled over the roar of the engine. The pilot nodded and quickly pushed all of the throttles forward, sending the Pelican up, and across to the other side of the cliff, to the side of freedom.

0:21

0:21 seconds left.

The Master Chief pumped his shotgun and jumped on top of the tank. With a few moments to spare, he put a plasma grenade behind the turret of the tank, and primed it. He stepped back, jumped up, and kicked his feet together. The jetpacks propelled him into the air, just as the grenade exploded. The tank turret flung off in a 90 degree vertical spin, and the back of the turret hit the Chief, sending him flying over the gap. He hit the other side and rolled, grunting and shouting in pain as his vitals displayed red. He stood up and saw that he was about 50 metres away from the gap. He ran; as fast as he could, which was very fast. But it was no use.

0:02

0:02

0:01

0:01

Detonation

Detonation.

Johnson stared back out of the cargo hold as the flash of white light filled the sky. "Christ," he whispered.

"He did it."

All around the galaxy, the Halo's exploded, one-by-one. One Halo that was situated near the icy Grunt home world exploded, completely obliterating the planet.

The Master Chief opened his eyes. He was in the Pelican _Charlie 46_ again. "Oh no." He braced himself for the explosion, but nothing came. He looked outside. Everything was normal. There were normal people driving around in cars, no covenant turret emplacements, no carnage, no screaming. Everything was normal. The Master Chief finally got it. He had travelled into the future, and changed it. He leaned back and relaxed;

At last, there was no more fighting.

At last, his purpose had been fulfilled.

At last, the war was over.


End file.
